Nvidia rocked by 'affair with Chinese spy' scandal, shares plunge in the 8% range intraday...New York stocks rebound

[Financial News] Nvidia shares fell sharply after its CEO, Jensen Huang, admitted to an affair with a woman suspected of having ties to Chinese intelligence agencies. In contrast, all three major New York stock indexes opened higher, buoyed by falling international oil prices and bargain buying in other technology stocks, making for a mixed market.

On the 9th (local time), Nvidia shares struggled on the New York Stock Exchange, falling as much as 8.79% intraday to $170.24 (about 229,000 won) amid the fallout from the 'CEO scandal.'
Huang had earlier admitted to and apologized for his affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed International, in an internal memo. Alice Huang is a person who has been under surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies over allegations that she tried to collect secrets about advanced artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors and information on the U.S. administration.
Nvidia's board said it had “launched an independent investigation into reports that the founder and CEO had become a target of a foreign intelligence agency.” No evidence has been found so far that national security or company secrets were compromised, but uncertainty over Jensen Huang's future is weighing heavily on the stock.

The latest developments appear to have been foreshadowed in a short seller's report six months ago. New York-based short-selling investment firm Culper Research disclosed in a report last May that Huang and Alice Huang had been seen together several times in Taiwan and elsewhere, describing them as having an “uncomfortably close relationship.”
Markets fear that, given Nvidia has no clear successor, a leadership vacuum if Huang steps down could trigger a cascade of disruptions to fundraising and product launches at related companies such as OpenAI, damaging the broader AI ecosystem. There is also speculation that the easing of restrictions on semiconductor exports to China—a policy Huang has personally advocated—could instead face a backlash, with U.S. authorities stepping up scrutiny over the allegations linking him to espionage.

Despite Nvidia's company-specific troubles, New York stocks were strong that day. Shortly after the opening, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose more than 1% from the previous close, gaining as much as 1.2%, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite each posted gains in the 0.8% range.
International oil prices, including U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude, fell by more than 3%, supporting investor sentiment. Bargain buying also flowed into other technology stocks such as Broadcom and AMD, which had plunged last week. Investors are watching developments in the Nvidia situation, earnings reports from major AI companies such as CoreWeave, and macroeconomic indicators including the U.S. October Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), due on the 10th and 13th, respectively. 

[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter